Abstract

This disserration researches for a problem-solving attitude in the Turkish print media's coverage of 15-20 November 2003 Istanbul bombings. For this study, a sample from the Turkish print media is maintained due to the ideological positions of each Turkish newspaper. Ideologies of the selected newspapers vary from leftist to rightist ideologies. The aim in the selection of the newspapers according to their ideologies derive from the question that whether newspapers coverage of the same event can vary due to their different ideologies. For the research of the Turkish print media's problem-solving attitude, a definition is formed on the basis of the relation between terrorism and the media. The problem-solving definition is composed of two main categories, which are 'problem recognition* and 'management of affect/emotions constructively'. Under the problem recognition category, the way of the problem framing and its assessment of root causes are scrutinized. Second category is researched for whether or not the Turkish print media try to manage and transform the negative effects of the terrorist events. In this study, content analysis method is used. Each selected newspaper is examined for their coverage of Istanbul 2003 bombings. After this analysis, the data found is categorized according to the problem-solving definition mentioned above In the results it is determined that despite the fact that Turkish print media have suitable narratives for the problem-solving definition, they generally lack a problem-solving attitude on the basis of their coverage of Istanbul 2003 bombings.